Sorry if this is OT, but it's kind of related so I just wanted to mention it in case it struck a chord with anyone else--two of the psychologists we've seen have said something along the lines of, 'oh, they don't have to meet all the criteria to have' Asperger's/ high-functioning autism.' This was because I was pointing out that while we definitely see social issues for DD (under the 'A' category for ASDs in the DSM), we do not see what is described as 'B' category behaviors (kind of the obsessive/ repetitive type stuff), or at least only sometimes in a very mild kind of way that sounds very different from the DSM descriptions--and is consistent with the description of misdiagnosis in James Webb's Misdiagnosis book. But whatever--I guess the criteria are just a loose guideline in some psychologists' professional opinions?? So what does it mean to have criteria, even ones as flexible as in the DSM (i.e., pick 3 of the following....) Same thing for ADHD--and you could line up what they said exactly with the James Webb Misdiagnosis section on ADHD (i.e., that the 'symptoms' were inconsistent with ADHD). But these same psychologists, when I mentioned the James Webb book, did not respond. What gives?? On the other hand, technically I guess we never got a real diagnosis because each of their reports just said something like 'the questionnaires [from teachers and parents] indicated a [70-90% likelihood]' of DD having each of these things. So I wonder when we're talking about the 37% number are we talking about a suggested diagnosis or a diagnosis where the psychologist has said, "this kid definitely has X."
Just saying, our experience with liberal inclusion of DD--but in a qualified way--is another part of all this that doesn't quite add up for me.
Last edited by Dbat; 03/15/13 01:29 PM. Reason: clarification, as always
